1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerned with new anti-reflective compositions and via fill compositions for use in the manufacture of microelectronic devices. These compositions include a polymer and a styrene-allyl alcohol polymer dispersed in a solvent system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
1. Anti-Reflective Coatings
Integrated circuit manufacturers are consistently seeking to maximize substrate wafer sizes and minimize device feature dimensions in order to improve yield, reduce unit case, and increase on-chip computing power. Device feature sizes on silicon or other chips are now submicron in size with the advent of advanced deep ultraviolet (DUV) microlithographic processes.
However, a frequent problem encountered by photoresists during the manufacturing of semiconductor devices is that activating radiation is reflected back into the photoresist by the substrate on which it is supported. Such reflectivity tends to cause blurred patterns which degrade the resolution of the photoresist. Degradation of the image in the processed photoresist is particularly problematic when the substrate is non-planar and/or highly reflective. One approach to address this problem is the use of an anti-reflective coating applied to the substrate beneath the photoresist layer.
Compositions which have high optical density at the typical exposure wavelengths have been used for some time to form these anti-reflective coating layers. The anti-reflective coating compositions typically consist of an organic polymer which provides coating properties and a dye for absorbing light. The dye is either blended into the composition or chemically bonded to the polymer. Thermosetting anti-reflective coatings contain a crosslinking agent in addition to the polymer and dye. Crosslinking must be initiated, and this is typically accomplished by an acid catalyst present in the composition.
While these anti-reflective coatings are effective at lessening the amount of light reflected back into the photoresist, most prior art anti-reflective coatings are lacking in that they do not have a sufficiently high etch rate. As a result, prior art anti-reflective coatings present significant limitations which make them difficult or impossible to use on submicron (e.g., 0.3 μm) features.
2. Fill Compositions
The damascene process, or the process of forming inlaid metal patterning in preformed grooves, is generally a preferred method of fabricating interconnections for integrated circuits. In its simplest form, the dual damascene process starts with an insulating layer which is first formed on a substrate and then planarized. Horizontal trenches and vertical holes (i.e., the contact and via holes) are then etched into the insulating layer corresponding to the required metal line pattern and hole locations that will descend down through the insulating layer to the device regions (if through the first insulating layer, i.e., a contact hole) or to the next metal layer down (if through an upper insulating layer in the substrate structure, i.e., a via hole). Metal is next deposited over the substrate, thereby filling the trenches and the holes and forming the metal lines and interconnect holes simultaneously. As a final step, the resulting surface is planarized (e.g., by the known chemical-mechanical polish (CMP) technique) and readied to accept another damascene structure.
During the dual damascene process, the contact and via holes are typically etched to completion prior to the trench etching. Thus, the step of trench etching exposes the bottom and sidewalls (which are formed of the insulating or dielectric layer) of the contact or via holes to over-etch which can deteriorate contact with the base layer. An organic material is typically used to partially or completely fill the via or contact holes and to protect the bottom and sidewalls from further etch attack. These organic fill materials can also serve as a bottom anti-reflective coating (as discussed above) to reduce or eliminate pattern degradation and linewidth variation in the patterning of the trench layer, provided the fill material covers the surface of the dielectric layer.
Fill materials which have high optical density at the typical exposure wavelengths have been used for the past several years. However, most prior art materials have limited fill properties. For example, when the prior art compositions are applied to the via or contact holes formed within the substrate, the films formed by the compositions tend to be quite thin on the substrate surface immediately adjacent the holes, thus leading to undesirable light reflection during subsequent exposure steps. Also, the flow properties of the composition tend to be lacking in that the composition does not completely flow into via and contact holes, resulting in inadequate protection of those holes.
There is a need in the art for contact or via hole fill materials which provide complete coverage at the top of via and contact holes. Furthermore, this material should properly flow into the via and contact holes to protect the base during etching and prevent degradation of the barrier layer and damage to the underlying metal conductors. There is also a need for improved anti-reflective coatings which can be effectively utilized to form integrated circuits having submicron features while also absorbing light at the wavelength of interest.